As the dust settled, Xue Ji caught Ling Xiaoxiao in her arms and carefully guided Ling Xiaoxiao’s soul back into her body.
Ling Xiaoxiao’s eyes fluttered open. She let out a turbid breath and stared at Xue Ji in disbelief.
“Ji… is it really you?” she whispered, her right hand instinctively reaching up to touch Xue Ji’s cheek.
Only when the familiar, soft sensation met her fingertips did Ling Xiaoxiao truly snap out of her daze. She quickly pulled away, jumping out of Xue Ji’s embrace.
“Ji, you shouldn’t have stopped me!” she exclaimed, her expression turning grave as she realized she had missed her chance to kill Cain.
“There will be another chance,” Xue Ji said calmly, grasping Ling Xiaoxiao’s hand. A glimmer of magical light flashed, and the two of them vanished from the spot.
A split second later, a violent storm of blood engulfed the exact place where they had just stood.
Xue Ji turned her gaze toward the figure shrouded in the blood mist. There was not a trace of fear in her eyes; instead, her heart burned with fierce determination.
“Ling Xiaoxiao, watch carefully,” Xue Ji said. Strange, shimmering lights began to dance around her form. She glanced back over her shoulder with a confident smile. “Let me show you… the true power of a Sage.”
Having reached the level of a High Awakened within the Ancient Forest’s secret realm, the capacity of Xue Ji’s spiritual energy had expanded dozens of times over. Many artifacts she had previously been unable to wield were now stirring back to life.
The World Tree Staff, the Sage’s Robes, the Necklace of the Elven Queen, the Dragon-scale Armor, the Winged Boots, and the Wheat Crown bestowed upon her by the Goddess Clotho—with the empowerment of these divine artifacts, Xue Ji’s aura subtly transcended to a whole new level.
This time, she would step before the world in the full guise of a Sage.
The onlookers were both puzzled and astonished by Xue Ji’s sudden appearance. From her interaction with Ling Xiaoxiao, it was clear the two shared a close bond.
But what was even more astounding was the arcane aura radiating from Xue Ji. Every person present was a top-tier powerhouse, yet none had ever witnessed spiritual energy with such endlessly shifting, kaleidoscopic properties.
Cain’s aura suddenly surged violently, and a wave of bloodthirsty, violent impulse spread through the air.
“To think such a being exists among humans,” Cain’s voice emerged from the blood mist as his form materialized. His eyes, fixed on Xue Ji, were full of appreciation. “Would you like to become a vampire? After your transformation, you would undoubtedly become a new Progenitor.”
Looking into those eyes filled with desire and cunning, Xue Ji remained unmoved. With a simple flick of her staff, a pillar of fire ten meters in radius erupted from beneath Cain.
The distant spectators finally snapped out of the hypnotic allure of Cain’s offer; his whispered temptations to corrupt Xue Ji had nearly ensnared even these powerful warriors.
Aria, who had just finished chanting a purification spell, stared in disbelief at Xue Ji’s constantly flickering figure.
‘So strong… Casting without incantation, destructive power beyond compare… She’s practically a legendary-tier being. And her flames are special.’
Aria looked at the holy fire burning on the ground, sensing a familiar, sacred aura.
Seizing the opportunity while Xue Ji kept Cain occupied, Ling Xiaoxiao immediately began circulating her energy, trying to calm the violent surges within her soul. There was no way she would let Xue Ji face such a dangerous enemy alone.
Sitting cross-legged, she focused her spirit and guided the flow of spiritual energy within her body. An intense, excruciating pain shot from her soul, forcing a large mouthful of blood from her lips.
Seeing this, Aria rushed forward, intending to heal her, but Ling Xiaoxiao raised a hand to stop her.
“What are you doing, Sister Ling? In your current state, how can you possibly fight?” Aria insisted stubbornly, moving forward to cast a healing spell, though she couldn’t bring herself to look at Ling Xiaoxiao’s face.
In her heart, she thought Ling Xiaoxiao might be furious, or perhaps contorted with pain. Either way, it didn’t matter to Aria now.
Because when she had seen the lifeless look in Ling Xiaoxiao’s eyes reignite after the appearance of that white-haired girl… well, why should she force her concern where it wasn’t wanted?
Ling Xiaoxiao opened her eyes and saw Aria looking away, a glistening tear on her cheek. She could only respond with silence.
High in the sky, Xue Ji dodged Cain’s blood-spike attacks with the agility of a bird in flight.
With a casual wave of her staff as she spun, she unleashed over a dozen bolts of purple lightning. Surprisingly, Cain seemed to fear those violet arcs, forced to retreat by Xue Ji’s sudden counterattack.
“You became a god, but not the God of the Sea, right? So why are you so… watered down?” Xue Ji quipped, executing an elegant turn in mid-air to evade a sweeping crimson slash from Cain.
Her pristine Winged Boots made her a darling of the skies, and space itself seemed to warp in her favor. Even when Cain’s blood-spears wove a spiderweb to trap her, space would distort at the last moment, allowing her to slip free.
This infuriated Cain to no end. How could anyone be this lucky? How was this even possible?
Refusing to believe it, he tried to blend his blood mist into the clouds above, only to find half of them dissipating before he could exert control.
“What the hell?!” Cain roared, unable to comprehend it. Could it be that she, too, was under divine protection?
Before he could ponder further, an invisible blade sliced his right arm. Cuts began appearing all over his body.
Vampires didn’t breathe, so he hadn’t immediately detected the subtle shifts in air currents. Xue Ji’s seemingly chaotic aerial dance had actually been a ploy to set a trap; wind magic was always full of surprises in aerial combat.
The air around Cain’s position sharpened into blades and rapidly evacuated. Before he could react, he found himself in a vacuum.
“Damn it, what’s happening?!”
His body was being torn apart by its own internal pressure. Suddenly exposed to a vacuum, his flesh threatened to rip open from the inside.
With no other choice, he dispersed into a swarm of bats, escaping the vacuum prison.
And what awaited him was Xue Ji’s long-prepared Heavenly Flames Judgment.
Swords of fire coalesced from the sky, raining down upon him and setting him ablaze.
Under this relentless assault, Cain was slammed down to the earth. Yet, Xue Ji showed no sign of stopping her offensive.
The ground trembled violently and then heaved upward. A massive mountain peak erupted from near the castle, smashing Cain and sending him hurtling back into the sky.
“Damn you! Damned…!” Cain’s curse was cut short as thick, dense vines sprouted from the soaring mountain mass.
The vines plunged into his wounds and began to grow wildly.
Agony akin to ten thousand ants devouring his heart made Cain scream in torment.
“Ugh, AAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
The completely one-sided nature of the battle left all the onlookers in disbelief, yet also thrumming with excitement.
However, Ling Xiaoxiao was still gathering her power. Above, dark clouds rolled, and flashes of lightning flickered within.
She could see it clearly. While Cain possessed immense power, his mastery over it was crude and clumsy. Facing a master like Xue Ji, whose control over spiritual energy was utterly refined, had created this seemingly overwhelming situation.
But from the start of the battle until now, Xue Ji hadn’t managed to inflict any truly lasting damage. A vampire’s physical regeneration was formidable, and this blood mist permeating the very air could continuously replenish Cain.
Even worse, within this blood mist, the concentration of spiritual energy was rapidly dropping. Cain was driving the mist to seize and absorb all ambient energy.